Vintage Miller Utility Sunlite (therapy light)
Untouched, un-restored, everything original
In 1932 GE's Lighting Headquarters at NELA Park unveiled a most unusual light source to the world. It was the S-1
Sunlight lamp, conceived by Matthew Luckiesh to deliver a light output
closely resembling that of the sun. His goal was to develop a light
source with the same mild ultraviolet content as natural sunlight, in
the belief that irradiating people with this light would give them
vitality and maintain health. Judging from the spectacular sales of the
lamp, the public seemed to believe this marketing as well!
The GE Mazda type S-2 sunlamp was marketed during
the 1930s as a “distinctly artificial sunlight source for ultraviolet
health radiation”.
This lamp was the smaller domestic offshoot of the larger Mazda type
S-1 sunlamp. Early lamps were made of clear hard glass while later
examples were inside frosted. Clear envelopes were only made for a short
period of time, perhaps for one year, and today clear S-2 lamps are
quite scarce and collectible. S-2 lamps have also been spotted with the
filament “pointing” towards the base of the lamp and anchored to the
stem